Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice — MLK

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At the heart of the 2016 School of the Americas Watch Encuentro is increasing awareness of the militarization of the US-Mexico border and Latin America, as well as the criminalization of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and people of color. Read more here.

JPR, “Greg Boertje-Obed describes his activism and motivation.
It’s been 71 years since an impossibly bright light flashed over Hiroshima, Japan: the first use of a nuclear weapon in war. Thousands died there and at Nagasaki three days later.
It scared the world badly enough that nuclear weapons were not used in war again. But our country and others certainly built more of them. Peace House in Ashland spent three days commemorating the Hiroshima-Nagasaki anniversary (August 6-9) with the help of anti-nuclear activist Greg Boertje-Obed. He was one of three activists arrested for breaking into a nuclear facility in Tennessee.”

Special thank you to Allen Hallmark for his photos and commentary:

Seventy-one years ago the United States dropped an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan on Aug. 9, 1945. Estimates are diffcult but at least 39,000 people were killed that day and tens of thousands more died in subsequent days, months & years from radiation poisoning and many more years later from cancers caused by exposure to the radiation of the bomb. In contrast to those ghastly figures, the closing ceremony of this year’s Hiroshima-Nagasaki Vigil in the Japanese Gardens of Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon, was very peaceful & serene. We need to work to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Wednesday, August 3 started off with a fine conversation about the Vigil, Wes interviewing Estelle on KSKQ. Below is the link to the archived show. BrainLabor Report 8.3.2016 – Hiroshima / Nagasaki Vigil:

Learn more and take action for economic justice by viewing topics in the slider of photos above. To navigate the slide topics above: Choose a topic from the index on the right side of slider (use arrows above and below index to scroll within it, then click on thumbnail photo in index to view in slider window). Once the topic is in the slider window, click in the slider window on the large photo to go to webpage on topic.

Peace House is proud of Uncle Foods Diner, which Ashland has taken to its heart, supporting it with volunteers and funding. It’s not a soup kitchen, but an occasion when the community interacts with people in distress and affirms its readiness to welcome all our brothers and sisters no matter what their circumstances.

But there is no excuse for hunger in the wealthiest nation in history. Nor is hunger anywhere caused by scarcity. The root cause of hunger is economic injustice, and economic injustice must be addressed and challenged because it is getting worse year by year, and hunger is not its only consequence.

The two gravest threats to human existence now are climate change and nuclear war. We cannot succeed in averting either without recognizing the role of the enormously wealthy few and the corporations and financial institutions they
control. Their quest for control of global labor and natural resources drives practices and policies of exploitation and the organized violence that is required to enforce them.

Since its beginning in 1983, Peace House has been anchored in a commitment to promoting nonviolence at every level of social organization—interpersonal through international. That commitment has led us to address causes that have varied as changing historical circumstances require. For the last five years we have increasingly focused our attention and energies on the multiple forms of violence stemming from economic injustice.

These focuses include one long-standing one—U.S. intervention in the affairs of other nations to advance an agenda of economic domination, and the huge, far-flung military establishment it requires. But more recent ones are our opposition to trade agreements that promise even greater exploitation of labor and natural resources, a health care system that provides access to everyone to affordable and quality care, a living minimum wage, and campaign finance reform to loosen the stranglehold of money on policymaking at the national and state levels.

Not every organization, much less every individual, can work on all the challenges we face. We can, however, understand how interconnected they are, and find ways to support each other in our work for a better world.

Peace House shares the sorrow of the Orlando massacre with all those who are affected by this tragedy. Our hearts are especially with the families, friends and those who responded to the aftermath with protection, healing and coordination to help everyone through the tough days ahead. The kindness that now illumines the dark after this brutal attack, is a profound message to us all. May we carry that forward.

We will continue to stand for nonviolence and unity, to support our local Southern Oregon PRIDE, and the LGBT community as a whole, as we look for ways to dissolve prejudice and hatred, finding new ways to care for each other as human beings.

You might not immediately associate quilts and gun violence, but when you sit across from Cathy DeForest, an Ashland artist who created the “Vision Quilt,” it seems obvious: “It’s about comfort, nurturing, home. People are offering gifts to each other,” she says in a sunny upstairs room at Sew Creative on East Main Street in Ashland.

The Vision Quilt is a lesson in contrast and an offer of warmth to soothe the psyche of all Americans wounded by gun violence whether directly or indirectly. It is a collection of individual panels urging an end to gun deaths and created by individuals from around the nation.

DeForest wants to change the tone of the conversation from fear and judgment to a positive expression of a willingness to solve the tragedy of more than 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S. annually (33,636 in 2013), according to the latest numbers available from the Centers for Disease Control. Continue reading article on Peace House website….

Members of the Honduran military are called to respond to a peaceful protest by COPINH at the headquarters of the company building the dam on the Gualcarque, a river sacred to the Lenca.

Honduran indigenous and environmental organizer Berta Cáceres has been assassinated in her home. She was one of the leading organizers for indigenous land rights in Honduras.

In 1993 she co-founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). For years the group faced a series of threats and repression.

According to Global Witness, Honduras has become the deadliest country in the world for environmentalists. Between 2010 and 2014, 101 environmental campaigners were killed in the country.

In 2015 Berta Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s leading environmental award. In awarding the prize, the Goldman Prize committee said, “In a country with growing socioeconomic inequality and human rights violations, Berta Cáceres rallied the indigenous Lenca people of Honduras and waged a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam.” [from article]

1) Independent impartial investigation to determine the material and intellectual authors of the crime that includes a cooperation agreement with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights to allow international experts to participate in the investigation, and other pertinent Human Rights bodies.
2) Government of Honduras must allow that FAFG (Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala) to review the autopsy report and issue findings regarding that report that the family can have access to.
3) Suspension of US support for Honduran security forces, including the US trained 1st Battalion.
4) Suspension of Multilateral development bank funding to Honduran private sector because the governance conditions are not adequate to insure gross human rights violations do not occur.
5) Cancellation of the concession of the Gualcarque River to DESA so that the river remains free.

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People around the world are reacting to the assassination of well known and beloved Berta Caceres, Honduras indigenous environmental leader. Read more here.

The Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act (H.R. 1976 in the U.S. House of Representatives) would “provide for nuclear weapons abolition and economic conversion … while ensuring environmental restoration and clean-energy conversion.”

July 2016 Clear Actions Newsletter

Crossing the Acheron: “The American War in Vietnam: Crime or Commemoration?”

Review of John Marciano’s book (read full review).
By Luciana Bohne
Global Research, 10.29.16
As Marciano writes in his introduction,
In May 2012, President Barack Obama and the Pentagon announced a Commemoration of the Vietnam War to continue through 2025, the fiftieth anniversary of the conflict’s end. Among the Commemoration’s objectives, three stand out: ‘to thank and honor’ veterans and their families . . . ‘to highlight the advances in technology, science, and medicine related to military research conducted during’ the war; and to ‘recognize the contributions and sacrifices made by the allies’.
President Obama claimed in the commemoration announcement speech that the war had been “an honorable cause.” Marciano challenges this notion.

HALT KILLING OF CIVILIANS IN YEMEN–ACT TO STOP U.S. ARMS SALE TO SAUDI ARABIA

Sign petition: There is an important bill in Congress to stop the $1.15 billion sale of tanks, machine guns and grenade launchers to Saudi Arabia. This bill could come to a vote as early as next week. Please take a quick moment to email your senators and ask them to support the Paul-Murphy bill to stop the Saudi arms deal. Don't forget to edit the sample letter provided with your own words to add your specific concerns and give it a personalized touch! More information.

Speak out in favor of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

As one of the 200,000 supporters of Peace Action and a voting constituent, I am writing to urge you to speak out in favor of the U.S. joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Cluster bombs are deadly, indiscriminate weapons that disperse bomblets over large areas, making their use over civilian areas particularly atrocious. They also leave unexploded bomblets strewn across those areas — functionally landmines — that civilians can stumble upon and accidentally detonate.

Tell Secretary Kerry to Push Saudis Toward Peace in Yemen!

Thank you for supporting the important work of Peace House

New opportunity for nuclear policy changes. Act now.

Please take a moment to send a message to President Obama today, encouraging him to use his last months in office to de-escalate global nuclear tensions and set the world on a path to nuclear zero. By email (preferable) go to https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact and fill in the on-line form. By phone: 202-456- 1111. Full information on our website - click here.

CALLS NEEDED: Berta Cáceres Human Rights Act Introduced!

Click here for telephone number to call and premade script to read - as well as full information. Thank you for caring about human rights in Honduras and stopping the murders.

August 1 – Video asking Senator Wyden why he hasn’t responded to letter to him from 1500 organizations against TPP

View video of Sen. Wyden at his Townhall meeting where he is asked to respond to letter "Over 1500 Organizations Urge Opposition to the TPP".
Below is the letter delivered on 2/4/2016 to Senator Wyden via staff at his Medford office:
January 7, 2016
"Please Oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership",
Continue reading at CLICK HERE

Peace House on record supporting Peace and Justice Works letter to OR governor candidates

Dear candidates for Oregon Governor:
We are writing to you to get your opinion on a crucial life-and-death matter for many Oregonians: The deployment of our National Guard to Iraq, Afghanistan and possibly Syria, Libya and Yemen* without Congressional authorization. Continue reading

Sign the petition to stop the military’s sexual assault epidemic.

Tell the Senate:
"Stand up for victims of sexual assault in the military and pass the Military Justice Improvement Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act." Click here to sign.